Pictures from the Pumpkin Patch ~ 2009

Apple Puff Pancakes

Early this morning, before my children woke up, I was catching up on a few posts in my Google Reader and ran across Kimberly's Apple-y Goodness. Oh, it looked too yummy! I quickly clippedthe recipe, realized I had everything I needed to make it (yay!), printed it out, and headed to the kitchen to get started.

It was very easy to make and was SO SO SO delicious!! In fact, my children kept asking if I could make it again Saturday morning so that their Daddy can have some. I think we will!

The recipe was originally from The Farm Chicks Cookbook. (Oh, and I doubled the recipe, using two pie pans, for our family.)

Apple Puff Pancake

• 1/4 cup unsalted butter (1/2 stick)
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 apple, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
• 5 large eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• Dash of salt
• Maple syrup or confectioner's sugar for serving

Heat the oven to 425 F. Place the butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon in a 9-inch pie pan.

Heat in the oven until the butter is melted and bubbly - 5 minutes. Remove from the oven, stir well and mix in the apple slices. Return to the oven and bake for 2 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine the eggs, milk, flour and salt in a blender or food processor and process until frothy - 1 minute.

Pour over the apple mixture. Bake until the cake is puffed and the center is set - 18 to 20 minutes.

Serve warm with maple syrup or sprinkled with confectioner's sugar.

Enjoy!

Pictures from the Pumpkin Patch

It's raining, It's pouring...

It's been raining like crazy this week, so today, hubby started storing away our (uncovered) porch furniture for the winter. sniff... sniff...

It always makes me sad when the time comes to take down our porch swing each year. We all just love sitting out there to read books and just visit. I guess the good thing is, pretty soon there will be a nice cozy fire to sit by instead.

Well, I am glad that we took advantage of our porch as much as we could this past month! In fact, here are a few pictures from this past week of us just swingin'!

Sisters, sisters, there were never such devoted sisters...

"Momma! I am the oldest girl, just like you were!!!"

Looks like we are starting to outgrow the swing!! It is FULL!
We can still ALL fit (the kiddos just pile on top of hubby and I)... although I wonder if those chains will be able to take it for much longer! :)

(Oh! and in case you are wondering... Snuggles was laughing like crazy in that bottom picture. He *loves* his older brothers so much!)

Our Tree of Thanksgiving

Making our Thankful Tree yesterday was such fun! First the boys headed outside to find a few branches to use and while the girls gathered rocks to fill the vase with. In the meantime I printed off this leaf template and set out the watercolors and paintbrushes. The kids didn't waste any time getting started! :)

They were all very focused on painting the leaves.

Captain was especially concerned with making sure he used fall colors, and lots of them.

After the leaves had dried, they all told me the different things they are thankful for, while I wrote them down. We didn't have enough leaves for all the things for which we are thankful!! Then we taped hung the leaves on our "tree". It turned out great!

Thank you again Meredith for the idea!

It's almost "Turkey Time"...

Anyone interested in a Turkey Time Lapbook?

I was browsing the internet looking for ideas to use with our Jamestown presentation (I will post more on this later), when I ran across this cool promotion over at Hands of a Child. You can download their Turkey Time Lapbook for FREE. Go to this link, and type in promotion code 1117UBLAST (regular price is $9.95). This lap book is geared for students PreK-1.


"This 37-page project pack includes a mini guide about Thanksgiving traditions and foods, along with 15 hands-on activities that are divided into 5 days of learning!"

A trip to the Pumpkin Patch

Sunday, after Mass, we took the kids to the Pumpkin Patch.

The weather was absolutely beautiful!

Here is Daddy with Snuggles.

The boys, with a couple of their friends, going on a wagon ride.

The boys each got pony rides... We tried to get the girls to get on, but they refused. Chiquita did pet one of the ponies, but Twinkle Toes wouldn't go anywhere near them. However, when it was time to leave she said, "But I haven't ridden the pony yet!" So... Maybe next time.

ALL the kids loved climbing on the hay stack!

There was an area to feed some animals, a corn maze, a sunflower maze and many other things for the kids to do.

Then it was off to find our pumpkins!

The search began.

The deal is, they have to be able to carry their pumpkin...

Looks like Twinkle Toes found hers!

Over all we had a wonderful day!